The Flickr Darkwings Image Generatr

A Radjah Shelduck with distinctive black, white, and chestnut plumage swims in rippled water, viewed from a high angle.

In North America, species in the Calopterygidae family are known as jewelwings while in Europe, they are called demoiselles.

Looking at this one wich is a male beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo), I think the NA name is the more fitting one.

I'm actually really happy with this shot of one perched on a leaf overhanging the Stenbäcken creek in Tyresta National Park - I got it straight from the side so both the head as well as those amazing veined wings are in focus.

In case you want more photos of these beauties, here's an album with (at the time of posting) 80 shots: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/albums/72177720314594496/

The beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) is a large species of damselfly which can be found along clean and partially shadowed streams of running water.

In Tyresta National Park on the south side of Stockholm, Sweden, one such place is the Stenbäcken creek (literally "rock creek") - which is where i've seen nearly all the demoiselles I've ever come across.

This male (as evidenced by him being blue and not warm green) tried to keep his distance, but I was trying out the Sigma 180 mm f/3.5 Macro lens combined with the Sigma EX 2x teleconverter for a 360 mm focal length so I still got him.

This is a two exposure focus stack for a little extra depth of field.

August 4th (of 2022) was an excellent day for shooting demoiselles at Åva-Stensjödal in the Tyresta National Park just south of Stockholm, Sweden.

Here is a male beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) on my finger.

If you look closely, you can see that he is missing one leg on the right side.

A couple of shots of the same blue guy on a leaf in the water, please have a look here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/54134896211/

here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53226955123/

and here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53306465627/

Plus one of him on the ground here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53435460086/

For a shot of a female I shot forty minutes later, please have a look here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/54134049182/

August 4th (of 2022) was an excellent day for shooting demoiselles at Åva-Stensjödal in the Tyresta National Park just south of Stockholm, Sweden.

Here is a female beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) on broken branch overhaning the Stenbäcken creek.

For a shot of a male I shot forty minutes earlier, please have a look here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/54134896211/

August 4th (of 2022) was an excellent day for shooting demoiselles at Åva-Stensjödal in the Tyresta National Park just south of Stockholm, Sweden.

Here is a male beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) on a dead leaf floating in the water near the old mill ruin.

If you look closely, you can see that he is missing one leg on the right side.

For a shot of a female I shot forty minutes later, please have a look here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/54134049182/

Another early season find in Åva-Stensjödal. A Empis borealis dance fly. These are sometimes called dagger flies because of the long and sharp piercing mouthparts used to impale small prey.

This one, and a bunch of its buddies were however more interested in pollen and when you want pollen at this time of year in the Stockholm area - sallow (Salix caprea) is one of the few options available. This one looking at me and the camera had however landed on a not yet opened bud so perhaps it was just taking a break.

Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53705903409/

Here's a shot which came out much better than I dared hoping for.

It's a female beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) which had landed on an old tree trunk which had fallen across the Stenbäcken creek in Tyresta National Park.

They are fairly jittery so most of the time you get sort of close and then raise the camera and they flutter off, but this little lady stayed on her perch while I got my shot. Really happy with the moss in the background - it's always a nicely contrasting texture.

Also, this is slightly edited. The twig pointing up was a bit to long so I cut off a bit in the middle and joined the two parts to have the top of it remain in frame when I cropped the shot a bit tighter.

Another shot of her here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53833397278/

A male beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) pearched on a leaf of a tree reaching over the Stenbäcken creek in Tyresta National Park, just south of Stockholm, Sweden.

This year, these guys have been downright common there and males like this one are fluttering around trying to chase each other away and find a good perch to spot one of the more bronze-greenish females to mate with.

Before taking this shot, I was trying to photograph the very same male beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) on a leaf on the other side of the Stenbäcken creek. Since there were two trees that had fallen over the creek, I balanced out on those to get the shot.

With me gradually moving closer and closer while taking photos (as you do), I eventually got too close and he took off.

Fortunately for me, he did a little flyaround and then proceeded to land on a tree branch sticking out right beneath the two logs I were standing on.

As you can see, my squatting was successful as he let me get a couple of snaps of him there and I must say the bokeh balls from the glittering creek beneath us really made this shot nicer!

Here is a male beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) perched on a fern next to the Stenbäcken creek in Tyresta National Park, Sweden.

This species lay their eggs in clear streaming water which makes this creek a very good option. There were loads of these flying around and this guy was on the lookout for a hot babe to date.

Another shot (closer) here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53819916215/

Here is a shot I am *very* pleased with. This female beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) chose to remain perched on this patch of moss on a fallen tree over the Stenbäcken creek at Åva-Stensjödal in Tyresta National Park, Sweden which allowed me to inch close enough to get a nice shot.

Here is a male beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) perched on a fern next to the Stenbäcken creek in Tyresta National Park, Sweden.

This species lay their eggs in clear streaming water which makes this creek a very good option. There were loads of these flying around and this guy was on the lookout for a hot babe to date.

To balance out all the shots of male beautiful demoiselles (Calopteryx virgo), I figured today I should post a shot of a female instead.

Typically when trying to shoot these (both males and females), you move a little closer which makes them take off and ove a little further away and then you can keep doing that foverver. Something that has worked for me is to just stay still where I originally was when they took off and quite often they decide to double back and if you're still, they don't realize you're there and might even land closer.

Like this little lady did on a branch leaning out over the Stenbäcken creek at Åva-Stensjödal in Tyresta National Park, Sweden.

To see what the male looks like, go here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53774653912/

Photographing demoiselles can sometimes feel like an exercise in futility. They flutter around, looking absolutely beautiful with their metallic colours and then they land fairly close - and when you raise the camera, they take off and land on the other side of the creek or something.

Well, after a bajillion tries on an afternoon a couple of days ago, I finally found one which was cool with my presence and let me get a whole bunch of shots!

There are two species of demoiselle in Sweden, this one which is the beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) and the blue colur tells us it's a male, and the banded demoiselle (C. splendens). I've never shot the other species, but I have located a lake not very far from me where they have been found, so I aim to go on a little expedition there soonish.

Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53771847318/

While the male here is beautifully blue, the female is also stunning in a greenish bronze paintjob: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/49243846506/

Photographing demoiselles can sometimes feel like an exercise in futility. They flutter around, looking absolutely beautiful with their metallic colours and then they land fairly close - and when you raise the camera, they take off and land on the other side of the creek or something.

Well, after a bajillion tries this afternoon, I finally found one which was cool with my presence and let me get a whole bunch of shots!

There are two species of demoiselle in Sweden, this one which is the beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) and the blue colur tells us it's a male, and the banded demoiselle (C. splendens). I've never shot the other species, but I have located a lake not very far from me where they have been found, so I aim to go on a little expedition there soonish.

While the male here is beautifully blue, the female is also stunning in a greenish bronze paintjob: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/49243846506/

Another early season find in Åva-Stensjödal. A Empis borealis dance fly. These are sometimes called dagger flies because of the long and sharp piercing mouthparts used to impale small prey.

This one, and a bunch of its buddies were however more interested in pollen and when you want pollen at this time of year in the Stockholm area - sallow (Salix caprea) is one of the few options available. This one looking at me and the camera had however landed on a not yet opened bud so perhaps it was just taking a break.

I first spotted this male (blue) and female (orange) beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) on a log next to the Stensjöbäcken creek in Tyresta National Park and managed some shots, but next they moved (together) over to this fern instead.

They were quite a bit away, but fortunately for me I had the Sigma 180 mm macro w/ the 2x teleconverter on the camera so I got close anyway.

The colours on the wings on these shimmer like crazy and the ones on the male came out exceptionally dark and blue in this shot compared to in part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53107323594/

The beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) is a large species of damselfly - but at maximum 50 mm (2"), it's still not a particularily large animal.

Getting this close to it reveals some nice details though.

This one, as given away by the cobalt-blue colour, is a male and for a much wider shot, showing him checking out a female a couple of leaves over, have a look here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/48936887088/

When I posted part 1 of this one of a male beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53375136221/ I had posted a shot of a female here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53370593861/ the day before.

And since I posted a Pt. 2 of the same male yesterday (www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53509262620/) - it is only fair to add another shot of a female here to keep the balance, right?

This particular one is a short focus stack as I managed o snap two shots with different part in focus before she moved.

Also, here is a short video of a male which chose to land on my camera: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53510845398/

Which colour do you think looks the prettier?